Apparatus for firing furnaces with fluent fuels



J. D. LALOR APPARATUS FOR FIRING FURNACES WITH FLUENT FUELS Filed June13, 1925 ummnng mm mm: nun

2 Shgets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR: I i'' BY Q Patented a. 15, 1929 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE nums vn. LALOR, or summons, manimn, nssronon.ro'rnn Lemon. rum. on.

'sYs'rm comm, me, or ngn'rmonn, mA'nY ANn, A conrona'rron' or my- LAND .nrrn wrus son name runnacns wrrn' rnunn'r 'runns i .s ncaeon med Time.is, 1925. swarm. asses.

' This invention'is-concerned with the use of fluent "fuels such ashydrocarbons, gas

(either natural or artificial), and powdered coal in firing furnaces ofvvarious kinds, as

I well as with equipment or systems useful for thispurpose;

l-with mar d advantages in furnace operation enerally, its importance isespecially mani est in instances of manufacture where an intensely hotsmokeless flame is absolutely essential to thdinsurance of a product,free manufacture of glass, and I have accordingly, by way of example,hereinafter described my invention as ap lied to a furnace moreparticularly adapte for making such'material.- The advantages bothgeneral and specific to the exemplification chosen, together with thoseaccruing from novel structuralimprovements in furnaces and firingapparatus in accordancewith my invention,

' .will' be readily apparent wigproceeds, y .1

With reference to the drawings, I is a a larger scale through therecupfrator of the furnace, and taken as indicated y the arrows IV- -'IVin Fig. I. v

' Fig. V isan illustration, partly in elevaof the atomizing tion andpartly in section,

connection with burner for oils shown in Fi s. I and II. fiig. VI is afragmentary sectional view the mam and underlying object being toenable, attainment of homo-v geneously commingled and assimilated com-ffrom-physical and "chemical imperfections,

-. .One such, instance is in connection with the the recu erator- 5wherein they pass g II is a centralj longitudinal' section of,

of the discharge end of the burner, this illustration being on a largerscale than that of they preceding figure.

Fig. VII is an. end view of one ofthe comonents of the fuelatomizingnozzle of the urner aforesaid; and u Fig. VIII is a detail sectionalview of a swivel joint which I employ in the pipe line whereby the fuelis conducted to the atomizer. The glass furnace herein shown isgenerally of standard construction in that it com rises an elongatedhorizontal arch-roofed sing v chamber or tank 1 with atransverselyextending dam 2 adjacent its rounded front or deliveryend.3, and an opening 4 in one of its sidewalls for convenience inintroducing the ingredients which are to be converted into glass.Forming a part of the furnace and extending laterally of the opposite orrear end of the tank 1, is a recuperator 5 with a series ofho'rizontalflow passages 6 for the s ent hot gases resu'ltin fromcombustion, w ichafford a series 0 relatively-isolated crosscommunicating-interveningspaces '1 through which the air used to support combustion asses, in ageneral upwar direction, and is Incidentally preheated enroute to thetank 1, is a well known manner. The s ent ases leave the fusing chamberor tan 1 y a hown at 8, and enter the top 0; 8.0

passage s and fort as indicated by the arrows in Fig. IV, and asdetermined by bafll'es 9 at opposite sides of the structure, said gasesfinally-mak-- ing their exist,"through a passage 10 near the bottom,into a flue or stack, not shown. The air used to support combustion is,'in

ghe present instance, supplied under 'ressure V y a of trunk conduits 12that extend alon' opblower 11 from which exten a pair posite sides ofthe recuperator 5, as s own in Figs. I and II; each of said conduitsterminatmg in a multiplicity of outlet branches 13. By this arrangementthe air .supplyis uniformly distributed to the spaces 14 n the bottom ofthe recuperator 5Figs.'II and IV-for upward flow through the spaces 7,aforesaid. The trunk conduits 12 are each equipped with a suitable valve12a, while the brane es 13 'arelikewise individually provided withadjustable gates 15 permitting regulation of the air supply as may berequired, in initially securing the proper proportioning. After beingpreheated in the recuperator 5ilthe air leaves the chamber 16, in

the top of e latter, by an upwardly-sloping passage 17 which terminatesin a constricting space or ante-chamber 18, see Figs. I and III, formedso as to induce swirling of the air, together with fluent fuelthrough-an inwardly tapering orifice 19 in the end wall 20 of the tank1, as later on more fully described.

As a means to-inject the fluent fuel into the furnace, I convenientlyemploy the burner shown in Figs. V VI and VII, but other forms thereofmay be adapted thereto, de-

pending on the kind of fuel which is to be used. The burner of Figs. V,VI and VII, is adapted for'consumption of oils, and since it isillustrated in the complete furnace organization, shown in Figs. I-IV,and therein esignated generally by the numeral 21, I

1 will now describe its details and operation.

As shown, this burner 21 comprises a long tubular body 22 which is heldin a sleeve 23 adjustably secured to an upstanding bracket 24 on the topof the reeuperator5 between the walls of the passages 8 and 17, seeFigs. I and II. The burner 21 is thus supported at theproper elevationin alignment with the opening 19, and with its front or nozzle-end vprojecting throu h a replaceable apertured made so as tobe' rea block 25of suita 1e refractory material let into the transverse outer wall 26 ofthe air assage18 so as to discharge the vaporized el across said passageinto the tank 1. Atomizing air is conducted to the burner 21 through apipe elbow 27 at its rear end, said elbow alfordmg connection with adepending branch of an overhead conduit 28 which extends from a highpressure blower shown at 29, Fig. II. Interposed. in the conduit 28 at apoint convenient of access, is a suitable gate valve30 whereby theatomizing air flow to the burners 21 may be suitablyregulated.

The conduit 28 has also interposed in it, a joint connection 31 which,in practice, is

1 dily separablefor a purpose later disclosd herein.

Hydrocarbon fuel is su plied to the burner 21 under comparatively ighpressure, by a suitable pump from a storage'tank, neither.

of these elements being sho'wn, b a pipe line 32. Associated with thispipe. hne 32Fig. II-are' necessary or desirable auxiliaries such as ahand control valve 33, an automatic safety drain valve 34, a strainer35, and an adjustable pressure control device 36. The

branch 37 of the fuel line 32 extending downto the burner 21, embodies anumber of component sections 38 thatare interconnected by. means ofswivel joints such as shown 0.1139" in Fig. VIII. Each such joint 39includes a stuiling box fitting 40 that is. attached to the f end of onepipe component, and telescopically receives a lateral tubular extension41 on.

sleeve 23, the swivel joints 39 allowing this movement. The burner 21 isthus'made accessible, for the purpose noted, without requiringdisconnectionof the fuel line 32, thereby obviating contention withleaking connections as would otherwise result after a few repetitions ofthis operation. Again referring to Fig. V, it will be noted that thetubular body 22 of' the burner 21 encloses a coextensive co-axial tube45 that conducts th liquid-fuel to the. atomizing nozzle, said i :bebeing connected to the fuel line 32 at me rear end and having interposedat this juncture, a hand valve 46* whereby the flow may be accuratelyregulated. As shown, the

tube 45 is ofbonsiderably smaller diameter than the tubular body 22, anda comparatively large annular space 47 is thus left through-which theatomizing air is conveyed or directed to the nozzle. advantage in Fig.VI, 21 at the front end of the tube 5 afi'ords a cavity that isinternally threaded to take a part 49 As'shown to better 1 enlargement48 constituting the tip of the nozzle, said tip having a minute axialorifice 50 with a di-- vergent exit flare 51. The hollow of the inwardly projecting portion of the tip 49 is tapered as at 52 and formedwith a small circular counter recess 53 that is concentric with theorifice 50. Within the hollow of the tip 49 is located a core piece 54,shown-as being somewhat reduced in diameter through a gortion of itslength as indicated at 55, an

circumferentially enlarged at one end as at 56, to a diametercorresponding substantially to that of the cavity in the extremity- 48of the tube 45. I The opposite end of the core piece 54 is. fashioned tofrusto-conical configuration, to coincide accurately with the conicalinternal surface 52 of the ti 49. A compressible washer 57 is interpos'ebehind the core piece 54 to hold it firmly against endwise movement andto insure rmrand snug cal surfaces at 52. The fiat lateral end of thetruncatedportion of the corepiece 54 forms jointly with the counter borerecess 53 of the tip 49, a closed circular chamber. This circularchamber is approached from the annular space'58 surrounding the smallerpressure contact'between the contiguous coni- P portion. 55 of the'coreiece 54, by way of a number of tangential y disposed channels.

properly positioned, as shown in Fig. V, the

pro ecting port-ion of the tip 49 engages the opening in a central hubboss of a devi e 64 with radially-disposed angularly-pitched vanes 65.This vaned device 64 is screwed into a ring coupling 66 at the outer endof the tubular body '22 of the burner 21'. A second annular threadedcoupling 67 serves to secure a centrally apertured disk 68 in a mannerenablin ready adjustment of the space 69 between it and't-hevaned device64. The

area of the aperture 70 in the disk 68 relative "to the internal area ofthe coupling 67 is about one-fourth of the latter.

The. operation of the furnace equipped as with the burner 21 is asfollows: The fluid fuel fed to the burner 21 under high pressure isobliged to .tra'vel' the comparatively long spiral groove 63 defined bythe insert 62 in the tube 45, and is incidentally raised in temperatureby virtue of the passage of preheated atomizing air through the annularspace 47 at-the same time. After traversing the spiral groove 63 withinthe tube 45, the liquid, now sufficiently warmed for facilitation of theatomizing process which is to follow,

passes through the opening 61Fig: VI-v directly into the annular space58 by way of the branched duct'60 in the core piece .54. As a conseuence of'forced passage through the tangentially-disposed channels 59 ofthe core piece 54, the liquid is rapidly rotated in the small circularchamber 53, and incident to expulsion through the minute orifice 50 inthe tip 49 under high velocity, is effectively atomized and issues asa-spirally-swirling spray. At the same time, it encounters a stream ofpreheated atomizing airrotating in'the space 69 due to forced passagethrough the vaned device 64. The convergent form of the aperture 70 inthe disk 68 promotes mechanical interaction between the atomizing airand the fuel within the-space 69 so that the spray 18 further broken upand finally discharged, at

accelerated velocity, in a spirally-advancing "zed fuel crossing theterminal portion 18, of the air passagp 17 from the recupe'rator 5, isencountered y the combustion-supporting to air, swirling as alreadyexplained. By enforeedpommingling of the thoroughly atomized liquid fueland air, a very homogeneous highly-combustible mixture is assured, thesame being injected through the orifice 19 directly into the tank 1. Byvirtue of the burner adapted to discharge atomizing me-' dium withrotary motion so that the atomized thoroughly atomized condition.Referring agaln to Figs. I and II the thoroughly atonifuel for dischargewith spirally-expan whirling impetus given the combustible mix-' ture, Isecure-as conventionally indicated by dotted lines in Figs. I and IIaprogressively-expanding, spirally-rolling flame, which, after passingalong one side of the tank 1, is re-directed by the rounded end 3 in theopposite direction along the other side of the tank 1 for escape of thespent gaseous products of combustion into the passage 8 leading to therecuperator 5,. the flame being incidentally depressed by the deflectingaction of the arched roof of the tank 1 so that the contents beneath areuniformly subjected to the action of the heat. By proper regulation ofthe various instrumentalities provided in the fuel and air lines 32, 28,the pressure and proportioning of the mixture may, obviously, be veryaccurately regulated and a white-hot smokeless flame obtained that is ofextremely high calorific intensity and at such velocities which bestsuit the various exigencies of practice. It will be apparent that heavyfuel oils may be effectively atomized and carburized for the purposesset forth.

Having thus described my invention, I claim: J

1. In a recuperative furnace, the eombina tion of a burner includingmeans to effective- I 1y atomize fuel, a vaned member in said fuel isemitted from the burner tip under spirally-flowing action, and meanshaving a spiralized outlet forconcurrently discharging airwith whirlingprogressively-expanding flow to support combustion in the furnace.

2. A recuperatlve furnace embodying an ante-chamber w1th a constrictlngsplral section andinwardly tapering outlet, a burner including devicesadapted to effectively atomize liquid fuel under rotary action, saidburner being positioned to discharge the atomized fuel across'theconstricting spiral section, .and means supplying combustionsupportingair under pressure to the ante- 11 chamber for intimate comminglingtherein with the discharging atomized fuel and concurrent ejectionthrough the tapering outlet aforesaid into the furnace.

3. In a recuperative furnace, the combination of a burner includingaligned devices adapted to effectively atomize liquid-fuel for dischargewith a splrally advancing motion, anda spirally-formed ante;chamber inthe 'recuperator section-of the furnace intowhich the nozzle of theburner projects and through which preheated combustion-supporting airflows under pressure and-is thereby whirled for spiralprogressively-expanding advancement into the, furnace concurrently withthe vaporized fuel. I

' 4. Ina recu perative furnace, the combination of a burner includingaxially aligned devices adapted to effectively atomize 1i uid ing flowinto the furnace, and a passage forming l a part of the recuperativesection for conducting preheated combustion-supporting air un-' derpressure into said furnace, said passage 5 embodying a constrictivevolut'e spiral terminus adapted to induce whirling of thecombustion-supporting air for spiral progressively-expanding advancementinto the furnace concurrently with the commingling 10 atomized fuel.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, this 4t day of June, 1925.

JAMES D. LALOR.

